Frequently asked questions

There are various issues linked to handling immigration in-house. Aside from the obvious difficulties of managing volume spikes and covering staff holidays or other extended periods of leave, maintaining expertise despite frequent process and regulation changes can also be a real issue. Further, in-house resources result in a fixed overhead cost. Working with Packimpex, you have a team of immigration experts at your fingertips and you only have to pay for this expertise as you need it. We take on the burden of keeping abreast of immigration changes and keeping you informed, and can take full ownership of eachimmigration case and/or your overall Immigration Programme to ensure compliance with Swiss law. We can provide the immigration services you need with enhanced overall performance at a lower total cost to your organisation.

Very few law firms are specialised in immigration law and of those that are, there are few (if any) with immigration capabilities in more than one canton. If you are looking for a multi-canton or Switzerland-wide immigration solution, only Packimpex has the necessary infrastructure including offices and staff in eight cantons and a single information technology platform. Packimpex also delivers a level of proven customer service that is rarely found in law firms. Our expertise is provided at a lower total cost structure than most law firms so we are able to deliver superior immigration solutions while saving you money.

Packimpex tailors immigration solutions to meet your organisation’s needs and aims to give you as much involvement in your immigration processes as you desire. We can liaise directly with the transferee and any family members to secure the information and documents required for the immigration process. You will receive updates from Packimpex at the agreed upon milestones. This should free-up your time to concentrate on your core business but still offer you the level of control that you are comfortable with.

Certainly! We understand the needs of consultants and other professionals who are involved in temporary projects in Switzerland. These projects usually require work permission at very short notice. We fully appreciate the time-sensitive nature of these assignments, and we can secure the right documents within the established timeframe.

We complete an initial case assessment, usually through a needs assessment call, to determine the best case strategy. After that call and taking the transferee’s and their family’s personal circumstances, we prepare a letter of advice. This letter provides an overview of the process, step-by-step information, document requirements and processing times for each stage.

Generally, the following steps form part of the typical Swiss immigration process:

• Step one – Packimpex receives details about the new hire or intra-company
  transferee and assigns an Immigration Consultant to manage the case.
• Step two – Packimpex completes an initial case assessment to confirm the
  case strategy and then prepares a letter of advice for the transferee and any
  family members.
• Step three – The transferee and family provide the necessary information and
  documentation.
• Step four – Concurrently with the above, Packimpex liaises with the company
  to gather the corporate information and documentation required to support the
  application and then prepares and submits the application for consideration.
• Step five – Packimpex monitors the case while working with the various Swiss
  immigration authorities involved in approving the application
• Step six – Packimpex secures the necessary approvals, checks these for
  accuracy and advises on how the approvals should be activated and any
  post-arrival steps that must be completed upon arrival in Switzerland.

We appreciate that few people know how to obtain an apostille or a legalisation, and we appreciate that getting duplicate birth, marriage and university documents can be very time consuming. We can prepare guidance and assistance with this where requested.

Though we ourselves do not manage immigration to destinations outside of Switzerland, we can assist in all of the departure formalities before the transferee and their family leave Switzerland. We also have tried and trusted partnerships with immigration providers in other countries and are happy to provide referrals.